Ch.929Opening the Hole

======[ On the Wall ]======

While Haschal and Kudsedra engaged in a battle approaching catastrophic levels, sending thunderous roars across the sky, the others were not simply standing by watching.

「 KRAAAAAA-! 」

No, it would be more accurate to say they had no time to watch at all.

While their queen, Haschal, took on the red dragon single-handedly in fierce combat, they too were forced into a bloody struggle against the golden dragon.

“Fire! Keep firing!”

“The wings! Aim for the wings!”

The wall was overwhelmingly chaotic.

Terrible roars like monstrous screams, the thunderous collisions between the dragon’s breath and Haschal’s fist attacks.

The booming sounds of dozens of dragon-slaying crossbows firing and the desperate shouts of knights filled with urgency.

The echoing noise, massive flames, and flashing lightning mixed in disarray, resembling the end of the world.

In the midst of this great chaos, Hestella’s knights, their cheeks pale and drenched in cold sweat, fired volleys of arrows at the sand dragon with grim determination.

“Kugh…!”

They swallowed and swallowed again the terrified screams that threatened to escape through their clenched teeth.

It was a desperate and fierce atmosphere.

“Again! Volley fire!”

– Whoooosh!

Dragon-slaying crossbows.

Large ballistas made with Amitamir bones as the frame, tendons as the string, and scales as arrowheads.

The dragon-scale arrows loaded onto these massive weapons covered the sky like a reverse downpour, releasing heavy booming sounds.

「 KRRRR… Dragon-slaying weapons, is it? Almost nostalgic. 」

The golden sand dragon, Ismenios, looked down at the hundreds of massive arrows flying toward him and growled with laughter.

Weapons forged from dragon bodies to kill dragons. It was a sight that reminded him of a distant past that wasn’t even recorded in history anymore.

Unlike the dragon-slaying weapons of old, which were covered in all kinds of runes with mana-disruption abilities as standard, the arrows flying now were merely ordinary dragon scales, so their actual performance barely reached the level of those from the past.

「 But how crude! 」

Ismenios shouted, spreading his wings wide.

There was no need to dodge.

Though the arrows had enough strength, sharpness, and power to wound a dragon’s body, without the ability to disrupt mana, they couldn’t even reach him.

The moment the arrows, flying like a swarm of bees, touched the blue mana field surrounding his body,

– Woooong!

All the arrows vibrated violently and scattered in different directions. Not one of them even scratched the dragon’s scales.

The space-distortion barrier magic that the guardian of the holy sword had deployed to block the space-time severance.

Before this advanced defensive technique that twisted space itself to deflect attacks, the hundred-plus arrows simply slid off like raindrops hitting an umbrella.

No, not just arrows.

Ophelia’s magic and Nigel’s thrown spears also failed to penetrate the dragon’s mana field, sliding off harmlessly and piercing only empty air.

“The dragon-slaying crossbows aren’t working!”

The archers holding the crossbows turned their heads to look at their superior and shouted urgently.

They too had clearly seen it. Their dragon-slaying arrows, upon touching the dragon’s defensive magic, twisted direction and flowed away randomly.

For knights whose only resistance against dragons was to rapid-fire the crossbows, it was an utterly bleak and desperate sight.

“Don’t mind it and keep firing! If a few large arrows could take it down, it wouldn’t be called a calamity in the first place!”

The higher-ranking knights shouted, encouraging their juniors. These middle-aged knights had been in charge of middle command in the Landenburg Knights before Hestella became an independent country.

The first attack being blocked was something they had already anticipated. Don’t tremble because the attack was blocked; instead, use that time to fire as many arrows as possible.

Theoretically, it was correct.

No defensive magic lasts forever. If they continued to pour attacks, eventually Ismenios’s space distortion field would run out of mana and be dispelled.

…At least in theory.

“No, that won’t work. Our arrows will run out before the dragon’s mana does.”

But in reality, as Ophelia said, stepping in to stop the middle-aged knight, they couldn’t break through the dragon’s defense with just dragon-slaying crossbows.

“Count Sigmillus, then what should we…”

“Wait. Just a moment.”

Ophelia looked up at Ismenios with her distinctive five-colored eyes that rippled with light.

Eyes that see mana, the five-colored eyes.

The flow and density of mana spread throughout the air, and through this, the essence and composition of the constructed spell.

‘…He’s created a virtual space with mana in the air. A space where all coordinates are twisted sideways.’

Her magical eyes, which visualized all of this and transmitted it to her mind, analyzed the structure of the defensive spell deployed by the golden sand dragon.

‘I see. The moment the arrows enter the mana field’s virtual space, they continue to move straight, but because the space coordinates themselves are twisted… they actually bend sideways.’

And her knowledge as a mage interpreted the analysis results and provided a countermeasure.

‘The same spell is bound in parallel. Dispelling it… would be difficult.’

Breaking it by force was impossible. A parallel spell with extreme stability, even at the cost of massive mana consumption.

At this rate, even if cut with the True Silver Sword, only the power of the magic would be reduced. The magic itself wouldn’t break.

‘To completely dispel that, I’d need to blow away the entire mana field, not just break a part of it.’

It was impossible for her. To do such a thing, her own mana quantity would have to exceed that of the dragon.

Although Ophelia had absorbed the inner core of Amitamir and gained enormous mana, it wasn’t enough to engage in a mana battle with a sand dragon.

There wasn’t enough time to fully absorb and dissolve the power of the inner core.

…No, even if she had fully digested the power of the inner core, the result would have been the same.

Between a dragon with an inner core and a human who absorbed a dragon’s inner core, there existed an insurmountable gap.

The fundamental difference between species.

Therefore, Ophelia calmly accepted the fact that she couldn’t break Ismenios’s defensive field.

If she used magic obtained by crossing boundaries, the result might be different… but she couldn’t use magic based on soul-splitting techniques in front of everyone.

‘I can’t destroy it. Then…’

Ophelia’s eyes intensified.

Blood vessels protruded from her eyeballs under the pressure. She raised her ocular power to the limit and analyzed Ismenios’s spell more meticulously.

Deeper.

Even deeper.

Beyond understanding the composition and effect of the spell, she needed to comprehend its essence to the point where she could recreate it with her own mana.

– Drip.

Blood trickled down her nose. Ophelia’s brain heated up as if it would boil from the massive information flowing through her five-colored eyes.

The brain of the mage with the greatest talent of the century, acknowledged by Haschal.

It was breaking down and analyzing the dragon’s magic, reconstructing its fundamental principles in a way she could reproduce, generating tremendous heat.

“Ah.”

The pleasure of realization flooded her mind like a drug.

Her body and mind elevated by heat and pleasure. Ophelia let out a single moan between slightly parted lips, feeling an ecstasy approaching climax.

A space interference spell using mana. It was the moment she understood its principle.

—-

After analyzing, deconstructing, and reconstructing Ismenios’s defensive spell, Ophelia gained magic with the same principle.

She embraced her waist and trembled briefly in ecstasy, then barely regained her composure, realizing this wasn’t the time.

And then she recalled. A way to break through the enemy’s defensive field. Into her mind still lingering with the pleasure of realization.

‘The mana difference remains. I can’t completely break it. But…’

Ophelia stretched out her left hand, pointing at the dragon in the sky, and drew up mana.

Her newly acquired spell. She devised an incantation on the spot to implement it in the way she wanted, muttering it aloud.

– Boooooom…!

A deep, heavy vibration.

Behind Ophelia, who had opened her right hand to support her left wrist, five magic circles unfolded side by side, creating a massive vortex of mana.

“…You there, tell everyone.”

Just before the completed magic unfolded, Ophelia turned her head and spoke to the knight standing beside her.

“Pardon? What should I tell them?”

When the knight raised his eyebrows in confusion at the incomprehensible order, Ophelia grinned and nodded toward the golden dragon floating in the air.

And she commanded.

She had found a way to penetrate the dragon’s defensive field, so they should prepare to counterattack accordingly.

“Tell them to shove everything they’ve got into the hole I’m about to open.”

…At least, that was the meaning. Trying to explain as concisely as possible, it came out sounding completely different to the listener.

They say you become like those you’re close to.

Ophelia herself didn’t realize it, but her response was almost exactly like Haschal’s way of speaking.

“Yes, wha…?! Uh, what do you…?”

A statement that could be perceived as incredibly indecent if taken that way. The startled knight blushed and was about to ask what she meant when—

– Flaaaaash!

The magic circles behind Ophelia emitted a dazzling light and disappeared like a mirage.

“Now.”

With her response, Ismenios’s mana field, which had been bombarding Demian with magical artillery, rippled like water.

「 Space interference…?! 」

Ismenios stopped in surprise, feeling the mana interference shaking his space distortion field.

– Craaaack…!

With a noise like overlapping glass shifting, a long crack appeared in the blue mana field, and the next moment it spread wide open, revealing a huge hole.

As if an invisible giant’s hand had flung open blue curtains.

“Now! Attack!”

Ophelia shouted, dripping with sweat. Her sharp voice echoed across the wall.

“Ah, right! Now’s the time, attack all at once!”

The knight who had been staring blankly snapped to attention, drawing his sword and pointing at the hole.

“Concentrated fire! Aim for the part where the defensive magic is dispelled!”

Strictly speaking, it was closer to neutralization than dispelling, but Ophelia had no energy to correct the knight’s order.

She was forcibly holding open Ismenios’s mana field like Claire’s legs, consuming mana extracted from the dragon’s inner core like a flowing river to maintain it.

– Thudududududung!

Dozens of massive arrows were fired again, pouring through the hole she had opened.